Smile
by Kira Regulus Black
Summary: It all began with the arrival of one ordinary boy- and one extraordinary boy. Or, if you asked the right person, two extraordinary boys. AU, dark!harry, insane!harry, dark!neville, mostly insane!neville, POA compliant


**READ: Neville was put into an orphanage after the death of his parents AND his grandmother at the hands of Bellatrix Lestrange. Harry was abandoned at the same orphanage by the Dursleys when he was four or so. Harry is six when he is taken away.**

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><p>It all began with the arrival of one ordinary boy- and one extraordinary boy. Or, if you asked the right person, two extraordinary boys. I couldn't really care less. All I have to say is, from the beginning, Harry James Potter was as otherworldly as I was normal and somewhat disappointing.<p>

Before, my stay at the orphanage where I had been dumped was grey and formless, each day blending into the next. As soon as Harry arrived, I instinctively knew everything would change. I had no idea how much. If I had known, I would have strangled him in his sleep right then and there, and damn the consequences.

Being the timid child I was then, I hid in the shadows as he charmed the adults of the orphanage. They would let him get away with murder. The children knew better, but they were scared witless of him, scared that they too would '_disappear_' like Sally Piggin's rabbit (who mysteriously hung itself) or the Terrence brothers (who never _were_ seen again, though the adults insisted they had been adopted.) The children knew better. The bullies wouldn't touch him. (I, though, was fair game.)

More than once, I had contemplated the sheer unfairness of his situation. I had envied and simultaneously worshipped the slight boy with the emerald eyes and haunting smile. One day, with no warning, Harry had simply and suddenly taken me under his wing. The bullies stayed far away from me too, and no one had really been friendly enough for me to miss them now. My slight apprehension had been washed away in a growing tide of hero-worship. For once, I was accepted. Months flew by in a happy daze.

Then children began to disappear. This time, not even the oblivious adults could ignore it. There were no two ways around it. In the past two months, seven children had vanished mysteriously, their meager belongings untouched. The authorities were called in after a few of their mangled corpses were found throughout London, but they could not make heads or tails of the whole affair. The children had their suspicions, but no one ever asks the children, do they? Any whispers about the strange boy with the inky black hair and emerald eyes and his short blond puppy went unnoticed, or, ignored. Looking back, I learned my first life lesson right then: People will believe what they want to.

I was no exception. I trailed around after Harry, brushing the rumors off as the jealous ramblings of a slighted boy or girl. Such things had happened before, I reasoned. Such things could easily happen again. And privately, I didn't want to believe someone who had saved me could possibly be involved in the incidents. Harry was my blindspot, so to speak. And what a massive one it was, too.

At least, it was until the day I found him outside in the small yard, standing over the blood-soaked corpse of a rabbit. Its lifeblood was splattered over him, and a snake was slowly coiling its way up to his shoulders. A cobra, I think. The one from the snake exhibit we had visited a week prior. The one that had gone missing. I froze to the spot, petrified. This wasn't Harry. It wasn't a child, but a demon. He turned towards where I cowered, and smiled that slow, haunting, mysterious smile. I was sick in the bushes. At the same time, both of us knew neither would speak of what had happened. Everything would go on as it had before. I did my best to put it from my mind, and Harry did not treat me any the less for it.

We could not ignore his, ah… _problem_ though, when it was shoved in our faces one day when we came down for breakfast. Harry was there, surrounded by a _pool_ of crimson liquid. It was splashed all over the hall, soaked into the wooden tables, the ceiling… The hall was _painted_ in the stuff. Mrs. O'Donally actually _fainted_, I think.

At any rate, our screams brought the bobbies running. I think one _threw up_ when he saw the… well, it wasn't a body, not anymore. I didn't blame him in the least. I think the only reason I did not follow his example was shock. Still some of the hero-worship still lingered, and it warred with the image of my dearest friend and confident sitting in a blood-splashed hall absolutely _covered_ by the crimson liquid.

When they came to take him away, he was still there, still smiling that mysterious, slow smile. He went with them quietly, his footsteps squelching in the silence of the hall. They took him to St. Augustine's Mental Ward. I heard no more of him, and in some ways I was glad. But my first friend was gone.

oOoOo

I was glad when my Hogwarts letter came. It would be my solace from the stares, the whispers. If I had been avoided with Harry, It was ten times worse now. The children avoided me like the plague, flinching whenever I cared to glance at them. Tch. As if whatever I had shared with Harry would 'catch.' No one at this stupid orphanage could compare with the deadly beauty of Harry.

I could escape my own memories, of the hall, of the rabbit, of Harry. Here, they followed me and haunted me everywhere I went. It was slowly driving me insane. Perhaps if I had some human companionship, things would have been different. Or not. Fate loves to toy with her chosen, and I happened to find myself among the favored few. I daresay she would not have given me up without a fight.

My first year at Hogwarts was uneventful. I was surprised for a short while that Harry was famous here, but it soon died away. Harry was Harry, after all. I wouldn't have been surprised had he charmed the Russians, or if the aliens had heard of him. Everything soon settled into a comfortable rhythm. Everyone ignored me, and I ignored everyone. That was the way of life. Then it was back to the orphanage, with its hateful stares and accusing voices.

Second year was little better. A giant basilisk rampaged through the school, I heard, led by a possessed girl. Neither was defeated, and I imagine they are quite comfortably living off the corpses of the dead down in the Chamber of Secrets somewhere. Dumbledore nearly lost his job over that one. All I know was, they do not traverse the halls of Hogwarts any longer. Maybe they grew bored. I spent the majority of _that_ year holed up in my private greenhouses, quietly cultivating my plants. I had no wish to remember Harry any more than I must, and a giant snake was not very obliging in my efforts. At least my stay at the orphanage was not so bad, as I spent the time working on our gardens or reading my schoolbooks.

Third year, an escaped criminal terrorized Hogwarts- until he discovered that Harry was not in attendance. I was rather amused by now, remembering my thoughts upon seeing Harry's reach in first year. By now, it seemed that the world did indeed revolve around Harry. None of my Housemates in Hufflepuff understood the reason for my amusement, as they were too busy cowering in corners, and subsequently I was now avoided by most of the student population. Harry would have been pleased. It made no difference, for by now, I had developed considerable skill in all my classes and my greenhouses were considered the best in all the land. I subconsciously gathered money and resources- for what, I hadn't the slightest inkling- but by my thirteenth birthday, I was one of the most powerful people in the Wizarding World. It was a sharp contrast- the orphanage where I was feared, and the Wizarding World where I was admired. Humans are strange, fickle things.

Fourth year was when things began to change, and change they did. Dumbledore had finally gotten it into his head that I would not roll over and become a perfect savior for him, and somehow taken it up that a half-mad Harry Potter would suffice better. The world seemed to jolt in my eyes the second I say him walk in with the first-years. Eight years in a mental institution had not changed him in the slightest.

His eyes met mine immediately, that slow, mysterious smile slipping over his features. I found myself responding in like, and when the Sorting Hat called out "_**Hufflepuff!**_" I was the only one to not turn a hair. I knew my Harry. I stood to offer him my hand as he approached my table, and he accepted it, still with that slow, sweet smile on his face. He took a seat by me (they were all empty anyway) and calmly began to tuck into a platter loaded with sweets as if he had not just set the Wizarding World on end. Same old Harry.

The Houses were puzzled as to why _the_ Harry Potter would wish to spend his time in the company of Hogwarts one misfit and outcast, and even more confused as to why I allowed it when previously I had rebuffed any and all social attempts. We just smiled that slow smile, and continued in our lives as if we had never parted. Let them believe what they will.

Four weeks into the school year, the first student disappeared. It was no one significant, some Slytherin muggleborn orphan who had no friends and scuttled around like a mouse. Half the school didn't even notice when she failed to show up for breakfast in the Great Hall, and the other half kept their mouths shut. Weeks later when her mutilated corpse showed up in Knockturn Alley, most assumed she had been playing at things over her head and had gotten killed in retaliation. The Headmaster made a short speech in her memory, then life continued as usual.

When the head of the Gryffindor Quidditch team disappeared some months later after a rash of disappearing acts, though, the Wizarding World had no choice _but_ to take notice. I knew what was happening. If anyone had listened to the children, they would too have an inkling of who was orchestrating the whole shebang. The Aurors were called in when masked Death Eaters also began appearing, gruesomely murdered and displayed in Diagon Alley. The worst week, twelve Death Eaters, an Unspeakable, and fourteen witches and wizards went disappearing from their homes throughout Britain.

I just waited and watched, smiling that slow, soft smile. Occasionally I'd catch Harry coming in the window, his clothes dirtied and scratched. Our eyes would meet, and we'd need not offer more explanation. I would silently hand him my time turner at lunch, and he would return it at tea, all the while smiling that mysterious smile. That evening, yet another corpse would be found- usually in Diagon or Knockturn Alley, though at one memorable time one appeared strung up over the Hogwarts gates. I believe the first-year that encountered _that_ one had to be permanently removed to St. Mungo's.

A week after the first-year's breakdown, I was approached by that one Gryffindor muggleborn. A Hermy Stranger or something. I wasn't very familiar with her. We'd exchanged notes on a number of subjects on occasion. She grabbed my arm and yanked me into an empty classroom, all the while her eyes darting around as if something might jump out at her at any second. I waited patiently for her to speak, straightening my mussed robes and hair. Really. There was no need to manhandle me, I would have followed willingly enough given a proper explaination…

"You know something, don't you?" she accused me.

My features reflected only my polite, mild bewilderment. "Whatever do you mean?"

"Longbottom, you obviously know about Potter. The murders. There's something severely wrong with that boy, I'm telling you! You've _got_ to help me stop him! Before he kills all of us!" she cried, nearly hysterical.

"Pardon me, Granger, but I believe you're mistaken. Perhaps a visit to Madame Pomfrey would be in order? Exam stress and all that." I delicately remarked.

One never knew where one stood with types like this. One wrong move set them off.

"_DON'T TOY WITH ME!_" she screamed.

I smiled that slow, soft smile placatingly. "Don't worry. I'll get you to Madame Pomfrey. I'm sure she'll be able to help you."

The next day, Granger was gone. Vanished, into thin air. All her belongings were still in Gryffindor tower. Her Housemates mentioned not having seen her since supper yesterday.

And me and Harry? We just smiled that slow, soft smile at each other.


End file.
